287 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Asmoneans Ass ASRIEL, as'ri-el (bsil.iat?, 'asri'el, "Vow of God"?): A man of Manasseh (Nu 26 31; Josh 17 2). The forra Asrielites, i.e. family of Asriel, occurs in Nu 26 31. According to 1 Ch 7 14, Asriel was born to Manasseh by an Aramitess con¬ cubine. AV has "Ashnel." ASS, as ("ll^On or 'llon, hdmdr, cf Arab, hamdr, apparently connected with Arab, root 'ahmar, "red,'' but referred by some to root hamal, 1. Names "to carry"; also, but less commonly, both in Heb and in Arab., "JinS, 'dthdn, Arab, 'atan, used in Arab, only of the females; rriS, pereh, or S'ns, pere', and Tl!?, 'drddh, or ''n? 'arodh, Arab, 'ard, "wUd ass," and also 1"^?, 'ayir, Arab, 'air, "a young" or "wUd ass"): The name 'drddh (Job 39 5) is rare; 6vos, dnos (Mt 21 2). (1) Hdmdr is derived from the root which means, in all probabiUty, "to carry a burden" (see Fffist, Handwdrterbuch, "llOn ii), or "heap 2. Meamng up." While no analogies are con¬ taffied in the OT this root occurs ffi New Heb. The Aram, "llfln, hamer, means "to make a rum-heap" (from which the noun hdmdr, "a heap," used in Jgs 15 16 in a play of words: Asses at a Mill. "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thou¬ sand men"). ¦ The root may also mean "to be red." In tffis case the nominal form hdmdr may have been derived from the reddish-brown skin of a certain tjTie of the ass. (2) 'Athdn, Assjt 'atdnu and Aram. SJ^S, 'atdnd', is derived from SDSj!, 'dthd',"to corae," "go," etc (Fiirst suggests that it may be derived from ']t^^{, 'dthan, Aram. 11^, 'ddhan, "to be slender," "docile," etc); nninJi rt\':^r\'&,'dlhdndthg'hdrdlh, "red-white asses" (Jgs 5 10) designates a better breed. (3) 'A^yir, Arab, 'airu ("male ass") used of the young and vigorous animal, is derived frora the root T'y, "to go away," "escape through swift¬ ness" (Hommel, Namen der Sdugethiere, 121-23). This name is used as a parallel to ISinS "^Da, b'nl 'dthdno (Gen 49 11) and as a compound of T^ sns, 'ayir pere' (Job 11 12), "a wild ass's colt." (4) Pere', "wUd ass," is derived from the root which means "to run," suggestive of the animal's swiftness. (5) 'Arddh, is, in aU probability, an Aram. loan-word for the Heb pere'. The Tg uses Xll"!?, 'drddhd' and SIO?, 'drddhd'. From the references to these various names in the OT it is clear that (1) hdmdr was used for riding purposes: (a) by men (2 S 16 2; 17 3. Uses 23; 19 26; 1 K 2 40; 13 13.23.24.27); (6) by women (Ex 4 20; Josh 15 18; Jgs .1 14; 1 S 25 20.23.42; cf 2 Ch 28 15). TO^ O'lTlian, gemedh hdmdrim, "a pair of asses" was used for riding as weU as for burdens (Jgs 19 3.10.19.21, etc). (2) It was'also used in tillage (lsa 32 20). In this connection the law prohibits the use of an ass in plowffig with an ox (Dt 22 10). The she-ass ('dthdn) was used as a beast of burden (Gen 45 23) and for riding (Jgs 5 10; Nu 22 21.22; 2 K 4 24). The 'ayir is also referred to as used in riding (Jgs 10 4),_ carrying (Isa 30 6) and tiUing (ver 24). Besides the use of the ass in agriculture and rid¬ ing it was employed in the caravans of commerce, and sent even upon long expeditions 4. As a _ through the desert. The ass is and Domestic always has been one of the raost com- Animal mon domestic animals. It is a much more important animal in Bible lands than in England and America. The humblest peas¬ ant owned ffis own ass. It is associated through¬ out the Bible with peacefffi pursuits (Gen 42 26f; 22 3; 1 S 16 20; 2 S 19 26; Neh 13 15), whereas the horse is referred to in connection with war and arraies. Reference is also raade to the use of the flesh of the ass in time of famine (2 K 6 25). The origin of the ass like that of most domestic animals is lost in antiqffity and it cannot be con¬ fidently stated from what species of wild ass it was derived. There are tffiee races of wild asses in Asia, one of which is found in Syria, but they may all be referred to one species, Equus hemion-us. The African species is E. asinus, and good authori¬ ties consider our domestic asses to have descended from this, and to have been introduced at an early period into the entire Orient. The Sulaib Arabs of the Sjrian desert, who have no horses, have a famous breed of swift and hardy grey asses which they assert they cross at intervals with the wild asses of the desert. It is not unlikely that domestic asses like dogs are the result of crosses with more than one wild species. As a domestic animal it preceded the horse, which was ffist introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos about 1800 BC. See Horse. (1) D'IS Tl)2n, hdmdr gdrem, "an ass of strong bones," is used metaphorically of Issachar (Gen 49 14); ni^n ¦WZ,b'sar hdmdr, "the 5. Figura- genital organ of an ass," is used in con- tive Uses in tempt (Ezk 23 20); ITOq rri^np, the OT k'bhdrath hamor, "theburial of an ass," is applied to ignominious treatment of a corpse (Jer 22 19); hdmdr is used as a symbol of peace and humility (2 S 19 26). Zechariah speaks of the future Messiah as "lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zee 9 9; cf Mt 21 5.7). (2) Pere' is used as a symbol of wildness (Hos 8 9), and D'IS SIS, pere' 'ddhdm, 'a wild ass of a man' (Gen 16 12), referring to Ishmael, desig¬ nates a free nomad. In Job the name pere' is ap¬ plied to the desert dwellers (Job 24 5). Jeremiah employs this narae as a symbol of lust. He com¬ pares Israel's love of idolatry to the lust of the wild ass (Jer 2 24). The ass ('dthdn) figures prominently in the Ba¬ laam story (Nu 22; 2 Pet 2 16. See Gray, ICC, "Numbers," ad loc). It is interesting 6. Wider to note that Apion charged the Jews Use in Liter-that they "placed an ass's head in theh ature holy place," af&ming that "this was discovered when Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled our temple, and found that ass's head there